Top ’o the pile:

  • Flash — I run a website devoted to this series. Under Mark Waid and now Geoff Johns, this series has delivered good stories with a strong sense of legacy, but without requiring you to know every nuance of the character’s history. Johns has made a career out of revitalizing forgotten or deteriorated characters (Hawkman, the JSA, Hal Jordan, etc.), and he regularly turns that talent to the Flash’s Rogues Gallery.
  • Fallen Angelcovered in August. On hiatus until February, this series just wrapped up a major storyline answering questions about the origins of Bete Noir and the Fallen Angel.
  • Powerscovered in August. The new dynamic is setting up plenty of conflict, as the status quo continues to change. In addition, both leads have picked up dangerous secrets.
  • Girl Genius* — covered last year. You really can’t go wrong with the Phil Foglio/mad scientist combination!
  • Planetary* — covered in August. Archaeologists of the Impossible, uncovering the secret history of the 20th century. It looks like it’s getting ready to start the push toward its big conclusion.
  • Astro City* — Super-heroes from a human perspective. Sometimes it’s a look at the everyday lives of people who happen to dress in costumes and fight crime. Sometimes it’s a look at the lives of the ordinary people who live in a city where super-powers are the norm. Always a refreshing take on just what lies behind the archetypes.

* On those rare occasions that a new issue actually comes out.
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Well, it’s official. As reported all over the place, David Goyer is signed on to write, direct and produce a Flash movie. This isn’t just a rumor like the Jack Black Green Lantern, this was announced in Variety.

Goyer’s got experience with superhero films. He wrote all three Blade movies, and the upcoming Batman Begins. He spent several years co-writing the current JSA comic book, in which the original Flash is a regular.

Variety states that the movie will focus on the original Flash, Jay Garrick, though other sources have stated that Goyer wants to use the current Flash, Wally West…and Blade: Trinity‘s Ryan Reynolds is rumored to be in the *ahem* running.

OK, I’m not going to hold my breath about this. Film projects get sidetracked or abandoned all the time—just look at how long it’s taken the next Superman film to get off the ground. As for whether it’s likely to be good or not, Goyer has a hit and miss record. He co-wrote Dark City, one of my favorite films. (It was the first DVD I ever bought. I didn’t even have a DVD player at the time.) On the other hand, I’ve heard almost nothing good about Blade: Trinity. I assume he hasn’t even started the script, though, so it’s way too early to get into the “This will rock!”/“This will suck!” debates.

Not that I expect the rest of the net to wait…

Update June 2005: I’ve added a page on the movie to Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning: Flash Feature Film.

Okay, this has got to be one of the strangest pairs of sci-fi news stories I’ve seen in a while.

First, Farscape star Ben Browder (John Crichton) will join the cast of Stargate SG-1 for its ninth season. (No word yet about his character, though I suppose he could appear as Daniel Jackson’s long-lost brother.)

Now it turns out that Farscape star Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun) will reprise her Stargate SG-1 character Vala in a 5-episode arc next season. (The original episode in which she appears, “Prometheus Unbound”, airs in January.)

Another one for the “Holy frelling dren” file.

(Thanks to aeryncrichton for the news.)

Here’s a gem from today’s postmaster mail:

Mailer-daemon, You’ve received a postcard!

You have just received a virtual postcard from Aunt Edna!

Uh huh. I know some software projects have enough history to have family trees, but this seems just a bit too unlikely!

I went out at lunch and picked up Identity Crisis #7. Looking back at the series, it was very satisfying dramatically, though of course there were many things happening in it that I didn’t like. Even the revelation of the killer’s ID didn’t feel like a cheat. There was no sense of an Armageddon 2001-style last-minute change, and no one showed up out of left field in the final chapter.

On to specifics. Spoilers abound! Continue reading

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